There's something really cool about this movie. It's basically Terminator meets Hellraiser. Pretty bad ass, and still holds up as a great contribution to the Horror genre. It's hardcore horror that incorporates American history and culture. I think that always works really well.
shareThe secret ingredient is soul. And the Amish angle was a brilliant touch.
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What is it about the Amish incident that was especially brilliant? I'm not disagreeing, just curious becuase others have opined that it's the best scene in the film.
shareThe way Redferne instantly recognizes him like an old friend - knows exactly who he's dealing with, what his values are (though the latest Amish generation is worryingly depicted as beginning to losing touch with the old ways) since presumably the way in which an Amish elder of 1680 would deal with an evil entity invading a household is exactly the same as would be in 1980. Also, I think the movie portrays Redferne's and the Amish' old-fashioned (verging on ancient) values as genuinely attractive (while somehow managing to avoid the virtually de rigueur Hollywood cheap shots) to an era that has forgotten the meaning of spiritual values and seems especially vulnerable to an attack of concentrated evil. In a deeper subtextual sense, perhaps it is the same "latent" quality of innate goodness within the American people which has provided a home for a community like the Amish to survive and propagate with their values intact (even while the values of the country at large have diverged from it so profoundly - one of very few karma points in America's favor these days) as that which eventually compels Kassandra to conquer her selfishness, to join and win the fight against Warlock (but maybe that's a stretch).
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That's no stretch. I think you've hit the nail exactly on the head.
shareThank you sir/madam - though I'm sure someone will come along and say it's a load of rubbish ;)
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UR welcome. One more thing-and was coming back to say before you responded-would you say that the horror genre is pretty much socially conservative, and that this movie is in particular?
shareInteresting question, phillise. It seems to me that the good vs. evil paradigm forms the backdrop for the horror genre generally, as well as the action, thriller, adventure, sci-fi, western genres, etc., and a good case can be made that this paradigm is essentially socially conservative. Conversely, social liberalism tends to be associated with moral relativism (shades of grey obscuring the good/bad guys), and most often associated with "highbrow" cinema - psychological dramas, art films, etc. I would guess that few SC's have much interest in the latter, while all but the stuffiest snobs enjoy the former in some measure. I think our attraction to the elements of the horror genre - fear, violence, gore - is related to very primal desires to experience viscerally our own genetic memories of extreme violence and fear (the great proportion of human history having been one huge bloodbath). We are both attracted to and repelled by these elements, and feel guilty especially for our illicit identification with the bad guys and their evil deeds - hence our overwhelming desire for retribution and, though it, our own redemption. Haneke explored this phenomenon in his film Funny Games (a double entendre for the sadistic games played on the victims and the ones Haneke simultaneously plays on the minds of his audience), continually holding out and drawing back this redemption from the audience. The existence of this phenomenon is, in itself, perhaps a strong argument in favor of social conservatism (though I myself tend toward liberalism and love good highbrow and lowbrow cinema), since SC fundamentally acknowledges this baseness (essential evilness, some would say) of human nature and hence the need for authoritative (governmental/religious) regulation of it. On the other hand, the liberal response might be that, while we have these perverse attractions, our corresponding guilt and demand for retribution demonstrates that the vast majority of relatively normal people are morally self-regulating and don't require big brother to keep us on the straight and narrow (of course, it's the Abby Normals in high places that cause the big trouble, imho).
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That's quite a lot to think about. I think most of what you said is generally correct (though the fantasy genre probably exemplifies the whole good vs. evil thing the most), but I think it goes much further than that when it comes to the horror genre.
There is a book by E. Micheal Jones called Monsters From the Id: The Rise of Horror in Fiction and Film:
http://www.conservativebookclub.com/products/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=c5548
The author argues that the inception of the horror genre, beginning with Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, was a (largely unconscious) rebellion against the Enlightenment, which attempted to do away with religion and traditional morality in favor of "Freedom of Thought" and social liberation. The monsters in most horror books and films represent a "return of the repressed." Secularism attempts to suppress traditional morals, and therefore its own guilt, only to find that guilt returns in the form of a monster.
BTW, you said you tend toward social liberalism, but before you indicated that you beleive tradition is worth preserving, and that would be more SC.Right?
That's interesting (about a "return of the repressed"). I guess there are many ways of looking at it. I said I tend toward liberalism. I mean I admire the Amish for being doing their thing don't think it would suit me personally. Although, if someone like Warlock showed up for real, I might have to give that a rethink ;)
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Right. Because if you look at the movie symbolically, the Warlock represents our guilty concsiousness at turning away from tradtion. He's come from the (more traditonal) past to destroy the future.
shareVery glad to have inspired such a thoughtful conversation! There's a Bluray of this movie available in the UK which is a thousand times superior to the DVD available here in the states.
shareI always respected this movie for one reason: they didnt make the time traveller into a complete moron. He was intelligent enough to acknowledge the technological advancements and focused enough to stay true to his mission. His snide comments about driving and the earth being round totally tickled me.
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